Makunouchi Ippo/History/Second Part
Rising Saga Submarine Wars Arc Fourth Title Defence: Shimabukuro Iwao Was the only fighter Ippo has ever fought that was shorter (and arguably more powerful) than him. This was fight was also for the right to be called Japan's greatest infighter. In this fight Ippo uses a alot more boxing skill than usual, starting off the fight with heavy jabs and using light punches in the end to set up his strong punch which was then followed by the Dempsey roll. Iwao is the first fighter to break the dempsey roll with punches choosing to slug it out, it is successful the first time, but the Second one finishes the fight. Comic Show Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Dragon Slayer Arc Fifth Title Defence: Sawamura Ryūhei The one who presented Ippo with his greatest challenge up to this point because he possessed an almost genius like sense for counterpunching. Combine that with a rugged toughness as well as a heavy jab and powerful straight right, Ippo is pushed very hard in this fight and reveals an evolved form of the Dempsey Roll, one with a sudden stop, to make the attack less predictable and more effective. It became an excellent way to fake out the counter-boxer, even though it took a large toll on Ippo's body. It should be noted that Sawamura had Ippo in serious trouble in the 4th round but instead of finishing it then he chose to do more damage to Ippo and that in turn back fired. For within the 7th Round, Ippo knocks out Sawamura with the evolved Dempsey Roll causing serious and massive damage to Sawamura. A Passing Point Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Challenge Cards Saga Spirit of a Weed Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Under Siege Arc Sixth Title Defence: Karasawa Takuzou Former Kouhai of Sanada, this fight showcases Ippo's growth against out boxers, he does not need to use the Dempsey roll, choosing instead to seal the technique so that he can use other methods to win matches and prolong his career. Karasawa has speed similar to Saeki and utilises it early, but Ippo uses his experience to trap him in the corner and land punishing body blows which became even stronger due to his training of hammering logs into a hill. This is one of Ippo's cleanest fights, having not taken a single clean hit and winning the fight using mainly lefts. Phantom Card Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Father's Back Arc Seventh Title Defence: Take Keīchi He is by far the most experienced boxer that Ippo had fought up to this point, as well as the first southpaw he ever fought in the pro ring and was someone that Date Eiji held in high regard. He uses Ippo's inexperience against southpaws to his advantage through out the fight, and fights in close so as to take away the power of Ippo's immense lower-body strength and rotations on his punches. Ippo turns the fight around by taking an even lower stance and using Take's game plan against him. The match ends in Take losing a slugfest after Take chooses not to open up a cut on Ippo's eye and choosing to go out as a proud boxer. Chaos Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Survival Match of Asian Champions Saga Seiken Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Scratch Arc After yet another canceled fight with Miyata, Ippo lost his drive and thought of retiring from boxing. However with the help of Iimura Mari and the words of his friends and previous opponent, he was able to find his true goal which is to become strong and went back to Kamogawa Gym to continue Boxing. Kamogawa then tells Ippo to aim for the World, but having them cut off the shortest route of getting to the top rankings by beating the OPBF Champ Miyata, Kamogawa tells Ippo that he will take a different path, which is to defeat all of the OPBF National Champions, obtaining their WBC rankings and becoming an unofficial OPBF Champion. Against National Champion of Thailand: Jimmy Sisphar First to fight in this quest, who earlier in the series was the first fighter to fall to Miyata's Jolt Counter. Ever since then, Sisphar had become a reckless pure offense infighter with many scars from head butts and infights. Because of his many scars he earned the nickname Scratch J. He also developed a full body hook which he called his version of the jolt. In this fight Ippo is forced to add a new element to the Dempsey roll, an uppercut, that Sisphar could not counter because his full body Jolts went from a side to side motion and it left Sisphar open to uppercuts. Winner Takes All Arc Against National Champion of the Philippines: Malcolm Gedo He is his next challenge in the OPBF challenges. This fight is set up when the 7th ranked Japanese ranker, Fukui, defeated Malcolm Gedo in his hometown, but it was revealed that Gedo had thrown the fight in order to receive money, he did so without receiving any damage. This outraged Kamogawa and Ippo and in turn caused them to put 2 million yen (4 million yen total from each fighter) on the line so that Gedo would fight seriously, Gedo was adept at avoiding any significant damage from Ippo early on in the fight, and because he wore his left glove loose he was able to trick Ippo's depth perception by changing hand positions to create the illusion of an extending arm. Ippo overcame Gedo because of the results of his sparring with Mashiba Ryou. He is able to avoid a very critical uppercut thrown by Gedo and also overcame the Gedo's illusion when Gedo decided to switch to heavy punches, making his reach more easily read to Ippo. Red Lightning Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. In the Jungle Arc Against National Champion of Indonesia: Wally As his third and last match in Ippo's challenge of the OBPF, and most difficult. It is set up by Miguel Zail, the former trainer of Bryan Hawk and an acquantance from Genji Kamogawa's past. Wally has only 3 fights in his resume before this bout, was a very difficult opponent for Ippo, because of his great talent for boxing which was beyond genius level. Despite getting knocked down early, Wally controls most of the match with his speed and instincts and because he was most effective in the corner Ippo had little choice but to aim for very weak, fast body shots to at least be able to touch him. However, the body shots have an unforeseen cumulative effect because they had all been aimed at the exactly same spot, which not even Ippo was aware of. They took away Wally's mobility which finally led to Ippo landing cleaner shots and finally a showdown in the corner in which Ippo traps Wally in the corner with the Dempsey Roll and eventually knocks him out. But before he delivered another finishing blow to Wally, Miguel saved his boxer by throwing in the towel before Ippo could do even more serious damage. The match is considered to be one of the most intense fights for the two Oriental Pacific National boxing champions. It also showed that with enough hard work and dedication, even genius ability can be overcome. After the fight, Kamogawa and Miguel have a talk, and they understand that a rematch between their two fighters won't happen shortly, since the only reason Ippo won was because of his experience, but now there is no factor that can give him a chance for victory. Ippo's world ranking is 13 and his OPBF ranking is 1 before he begins the OPBF conquest. After defeating the three Asian champions, his world ranking has risen to 7. Blind Step Arc Eighth Title Defence: Kojima Hisato A boxer who was two weight classes above Ippo. He has insulted Ippo's opponents and even his coach, but later it is found out that he is a huge Ippo fan. His right arm is currently useless so he uses his left arm to gain a Japanese rank. He also claims to know Ippo's weakness. This was also a short match as Ippo knocks him out after recovering from Kojima's counter in the first round. After his fight with Kojima, Ippo was told by Kamogawa that he would be relinquishing the JBC Featherweight Title and moving up to challenging world rankers. World Class Saga Speed Zone Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Proud Wolf Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Go to the World Arc His first match as a world contender is against Alfredo Gonzales, the 2nd ranked Featherweight in the WBA and 3rd ranked Featherweight in the WBC. As the fight starts, Ippo takes up his usual pace, using his head slips and peek-a-boo guard to close in and fire in shots. He negates heavy punches from Alfredo by stepping in fast in order to cut off the damage of Alfredo's punches with his forehead, then starts to bring the match to an in-fight, at which he loses. He still goes in, quickly learning the rhythm of Alfredo's long blows; but as he corners Alfredo, Alfredo takes advantage of Ippo's not expecting punches from the side and lands a heavy long left hook, scoring a knockdown. As the match progresses Ippo continues to take hits while Alfredo fights at long range. Finally Ippo brings out the Dempsey Roll. In return, Alfredo takes up a savage close range in-fighting style. The exchange ends with no clean hits, then another exchange follows and Alfredo is knocked down by a glancing uppercut which rattled his brain. Finally, in the 7th round, the boxers enter yet another exchange which Ippo wins, but as he goes for the finishing blow, Alfredo lands a powerful right counter and sends Ippo to the canvas, where he lays motionless. Kamogawa runs into the ring to help Ippo and the referee declares a TKO. As of this fight, Alfredo is the second person to knock Ippo unconscious. Battle of the Beasts Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. Seeking Heights Arc Ippo makes an appearance in this arc. 10 Months in the Making Arc Ippo, following his ten month break against Alfredo, watches as his next opponent, Antonio Guevara from the Philippine, become the new Filipino Featherweight Champion after he wins against Ippo's previous opponent, Malcolm Gedo. Ippo, after finding out Antonio is a southpaw, asks Itagaki how to fight southpaws and comes to a conclusion to use his right more than his left and to keep moving left with his foot on the outside. After winning in a spar with three southpaws, Ippo goes training with Kamogawa, who lectures Ippo on his New Dempsey Roll's timing. Shinoda explains to Ippo, that it takes a great amount of determination to catch his punches and it's hard for Kamogawa to lecture him. Ippo and Antonio meet at the signing ceremony and shake hands. Ippo notices Antonio's natural instinct to use his left hand. Night of the match arrives and first round begins. Antonio keeps Ippo out of range for a while, however, Ippo slowly is able to close in on Antonio, punching him in the face with a right, causing him to fall, however, he negated the power by swaying back. As the fight continues, Antonio goes on the defensive as Ippo attacks. After dodging a right straight, Ippo begins his New Dempsey Roll, but Antonio falls after a couple hits before it started and a slip is declared. The fight continues as Ippo gets clinched by Antonio, but not until Ippo releases a liver blow to get out of the clinch, ending the first round. The second round begins, Ippo gets out-ranged and then his body starts visibly steaming and he starts feeling lighter than usual, he jets towards Antonio too hard and loses balance when the latter touches him. Ippo goes on the offensive with punches that draw blood even when blocked, he downs Antonio once, before the round ends. After Ippo declares a win to Kamogawa, the third round begins. Ippo steps into range as practiced, but trips over Antonio's foot in the process and is sent rolling on the ground, a slip is declared. After getting up, both fighters exchange hits, until Ippo is at his perfect in-fight range, Antonio does a slight hook that makes Ippo fall and roll over, with the referee declaring a down. Ippo gets up and angrily throws a flurry of punches toward Antonio as he blocks, third round ends. Round four begins, Ippo manages to step in, but is caught by Antonio's foot, with the latter hitting Ippo with a right to the head, causing a down. The fight continues with Ippo on the offense, as Ippo dodges, he attempts to use the New Dempsey Roll, but touches the mat with his knee, a down is declared. The fight continues, Ippo and Antonio exchange punches with Antonio going down two times. On Antonio's second down, Ippo gives a look to Kamogawa as if he wanted to say something. Ippo rushes Antonio to a corner, Ippo then weaves in ready with the New Dempsey Roll, with thoughts in his head knowing that his body changed and might not be able to go with Kamogawa anymore despite wanting to continue with him. In position with the New Dempsey Roll, Ippo throws a left uppercut that gets countered by Antonio's right. Ippo then hopelessly falls, ending the fight. Ippo sits up with Kamogawa at his side, telling him it's over now. Ippo bows to the crowd as he leaves the ring with a second straight lost. Category:Makunouchi Ippo Tabs